Hollywood celebrities Harrison Ford, Bo Derek and Robert Duvall on
Monday threw their support behind a new global initiative by the World
Bank to save tigers from extinction.

While the global development agency's main mission is to fight
poverty in developing countries, it has rarely taken on wildlife
conservation efforts of endangered species.

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The new Tiger Conservation Initiative will bring together wildlife
experts, scientists and governments to try to halt the killing and
thriving illegal trade in tiger skins, meat and body parts used in
traditional Asian medicines.

Ford, a long-time environmental activist, said efforts to protect
tigers would only succeed if local communities were involved in
conservation efforts.

"By committing to help wild tigers, the World Bank is sounding its
intention to be a global leader in biodiversity conservation," Ford,
the star of the latest "Indiana Jones" movie, told an event at
Washington's Smithsonian National Zoo.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick said the decline in the number
of tigers was "shocking" from over 100,000 a century ago to currently
less than 4,000.

The clearing of large areas of forest land for urban development has
added to their decline and disappearance from Central Asia, the
Indonesian islands of Java and Bali, and most of China.

POACHING AT ALL-TIME HIGH

A World Bank report warned that "if current trends persist, tigers
are likely to be the first species of large predator to vanish in
historic times."

"Just as with many other challenges of sustainability, such as
climate change, pandemic disease, or poverty, the crisis facing tigers
overwhelms local capabilities and it is one that transcends local
borders," Zoellick said.

"This is a problem that cannot be handled by individual nations
alone, it requires an alliance of strong local commitment backed by
deep international support," he added.

Zoellick said the World Bank would convene a series of discussions
with countries, conservationists and the private sector to mobilize
funding for tiger conservation, and launch studies on how better to
protect the cats.

The World Bank chief said there were examples of where tigers had
been brought back from the brink of extinction, such as in Russia and
Nepal, but added that saving the world tiger population would not be an
easy task.

"All those concerned may not agree but this does not mean we should stand on the sidelines and do nothing," he said.

John Seidensticker, chief scientist at the Smithsonian National
Zoo's Conservation Ecology Center, said tiger poaching and trafficking
in tiger parts and meat was at an all-time high and the biggest
immediate threat to tigers.

"For wild tigers to live they must have much better security on
their home ground," he said, also calling on countries to properly
enforce laws to protect tigers.

This, Seidensticker said, required strong political will.

"We're at a tipping point and we're going to lose wild tigers but
with the World Bank initiative wild tigers now have a chance," he added

Seidensticker said tiger conservation efforts needed to be more
coordinated and focused, and the World Bank could help as a global
institution.